WAGs

WAGs (or Wags) is an acronym used to refer to Wives And Girlfriends of high-profile professional athletes. The term may also be used in the singular form, "WAG", to refer to a specific female partner / life partner.

The term was first used by the British tabloid press to refer to the wives and girlfriends of high-profile footballers, originally the England national football team. It came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although the term had been used occasionally before that. The acronym has since been used by the media in other countries to describe the female partners of sportsperson in general.

It is popular belief that the first recorded use of the term WAG was in 2002: "It was never guaranteed that the wives and girlfriends (or "the Wags", as staff at the Jumeirah Beach Club call them for short) would get along. Mrs Beckham's tongue, for one thing, has previously run away with itself."

In 2006 it was generally printed as "WAGs", but a singular, "Wag" or "WAG", quickly came into vogue for example: "any additional pounds she gained during Wag drinking sessions"; "a property heiress, model and actress, appears a likely sports WAG".Susie Dent's annual Language Report for the Oxford University Press (2006) capitalised the entire acronym as "WAG" ("wife and/or girlfriend") .

"WAG"/"wag" came also to be used somewhat redundantly ("deluxe-edition Wag girlfriend"), although in such usage "girlfriend" (or "wife") could be interpreted as further denotative specification within the set of people fitting both the denotation and the connotation of "WAG", and increasingly in non-footballing contexts: for example, the first wife of comedian Peter Cook (1937–95) was described as a "Sixties Wag" and actress Jennifer Ellison, because of her former choice of clothes, "once ... the epitome of a Wag". Fashion writer Shane Watson coined a collective noun, "waggery". One can also be "Wagged"

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